Dragon Heart: Awakening the Past
by Snow Wolf Alpha
Summary: While on a field trip, four teens are swept away to a time when kings ruled the lands, knights fought with honour and great evil lurks just around the corner. There's even a dragon whom the four feel a very strong connection to, but what are they doing th
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Dragonheart characters, story or anything else featured in "DragonHeart" or "DragonHeart: A New Beginning".

**Prologue**

In a distant land, in a time forgotten by history, one where many who would dream of knights in shining armour and great scaled behemoths who soared through the skies gracefully would probably envision. Before the Earth was overrun with technology. Here, atop a castle, two titans clashed for supremacy.

One, a dragon whose name was Griffin was a dark crimson red with all the classic features you would expect of a dragon, wings, claws and tail. His face with its sinister glint, which instantly told anyone, he was pure evil. The other titan, which happened to be a dragon too showing similar features though clearly much younger and not being as big as his opponent. This dragon was however black and beige with a much friendlier look to his face.

They were both sailing through the air, ramming, each trying to throw the other to the ground, only stopping to hurl fireballs at each other and dodge the others attack. The nobles of the castle, the people of the neighbouring village and even the king stood there unable to a do anything about the event before them. Finally Griffin sent the smaller dragon crashing towards the ground, pinning him in place before attempting to bite his neck and choke him. The young dragon let a roar but which was closer to a cry of pain.

Suddenly movement was made in the crowd on the sidelines and a lone stable boy grabbed a fallen sword left by a knight who had run for cover.

"Drake, use your tail" he yelled, getting ready to take aim.

The small dragon raised his tail at the command, unclenching the spade-like tip to reveal a sharper edge, which he jabbed with all his might into the unsuspecting crimson dragon's back. He roared loudly, rearing up on his back legs, he hadn't expected an attack from behind. Hardly a second later had Griffin reared; the boy or teenager had thrown his weapon.

The sword sped through the air before embedding itself in the left side of the dragon's chest. The crimson brute withered in pain and took to the sky, lashing around in desperation to pull the sword out. Finally succeeding and tossing away the blood stained blade, sending an evil glare at the one who threw it.

"You'll pay for that peasant," He snarled angrily as he changed his target to the stable boy and prepared for another attack.

Choosing this time to make his move and unleash his secret weapon upon his evil adversary, the smaller black and belch dragon known as Drake rolled over on his back, opened his mouth and shot a clear stream towards the distracted Griffin. The beam impacted his middle, not only causing him a tremendous amount of pain, but to his horror, the ice began to spread already consuming his back legs.

"Ice, how did you..ahhhhhhhhh" he was cut off in mid sentence as the ice crept up his body enveloping his head, wings and tail. Having lost the use of his wings and movement of his entire body, Griffin instantly fell through the air before shattering like broken glass on the concrete below, sending shards of ice flying in all directions.

Drake immediately got up, folded his leathery wings and shaking some of the discarded ice off himself. His next thought was to look for the stable boy, the very one whom he considered to be his closest friend, even brother.

"Geoff, we made it….Geoff" came the soft and gentle voice that was Drake's. Anyone who had not heard this dragon speck before would have been perplexed at the calmness and serenity that they would not have expected to come from such a beast. His brights eyes scanned the crowd for any signs of where Geoff may have gone before finally settling on his limp form a few metres away, a jagged icicle sticking out of his chest.

The Chinese girl who had helped earlier pulled the icicle out while a friend of Geoff and Drake's, a monk who lived at the neighbouring monastery named Mansel quickly checked the seriousness of the injury. After a minute or two he spoke.

"He's gone" he said simply, pain evident in his voice. Even the girl named Lian was showing signs of tears.

The dragon approached the small group, feeling the sadness of loss weigh down on him yet there was still one thing he knew of that could save him "Step away" he ordered gently before reaching with his fore claw towards his chest. "Mansel what are the words?"

"Half my heart to make you whole" The monk responded which Drake repeated. The dragon had slit his skin and pulled out an item, which could have only been half a dragon's heart. It glowed brightly with a life giving force. Carefully Drake reached over and placed the half heart into Geoff's chest while finishing the verse with Mansel. "It's strength to purify your weakness"

Geoff's eyes snapped open as he moved to try and sit up.

"Geoff?" asked Lian unsure of what to make of it.

"What happened?….. ack my heart hurts" he asked a bit bewildered by his death experience feeling the strange fast beating in his heart, as his eyes wandered between his friends looking questioningly at them.

"You mean our heart hurts, but it won't be this way forever" Drake said with an enormous grin on his face as relief and happiness washed over him once again. The people rejoiced, the evil had been defeated and good restored.

The stars in the great constellation Draco flickered and the wind howled in the night. The stars knew though victory was theirs this time, it was only the beginning and sadly the darkest hour was yet to come. Looking into the future all that could be seen was disaster and death yet hope could be seen in one possibility. If the ancient prophecy was to come to pass and they going to survive the next confrontation then they would have to seek help not just elsewhere, but else when.


	2. And So it Begins

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Dragonheart characters, story or anything else featured in "DragonHeart" or "DragonHeart: A New Beginning". The original characters that appear in this fanfic cannot be copied without permission from the author.

_People's thoughts as well as flashbacks and dreams are in italic._

**And so it Begins…**

England, Present Day

The wind rustled the trees and the bushes and carried a familiar presence that the world had not felt in a long long time. The presence moved as the wind itself swiftly through the night pondering the situation at hand. This was risky and could alter reality itself but the decision was made. The future would meet the past. The fate of the world would be decided but not until their paths collide.

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"Umph" was all that was said by two teenagers as they collided, had the wind knocked out of them resulting in both of them stumbling back and ending up on the ground. Both around the age of 16 and while one cursed lightly under his breath, the other stood up and dusted herself off.

"Amy, will you quit blocking my way?" the boy said in somewhat annoyed tone. He had short dark brown hair on top, which became light brown on the sides and pale white skin.

"Thats kinda the whole point of the opposite team in Basketball, Chris", the girl retorted back with one of those big know it all smiles spreading across her face. She had long blonde hair that ran past her shoulders and pale skin (hey this is England remember, hardly any sunshine).

"And besides, you ran into me"

"Oh prove it" Amy simply sighed and upon hearing a whistle ran back to resume playing.

"Don't challenge me or else you **will** get hurt" She said with a smirk.

_There are some people in this world who are cut for sport and I'm definitely not one of them,_ thought Chris. Turning back to the game, he had to stifle a laugh as he saw Amy getting the ball stolen from her by a guy named Sam who easily blocked her attempts to get it back, shooting and scoring another 2 points. _But then again, Amy isn't exactly the sportiest person on the face of the Earth. _

Suddenly reality hit that they were in the middle of a game and he quickly went to help defend his side of the court. This was how it usually was on a Friday with sports in the early in the afternoon. It wouldn't be too bad if they didn't have to do all these team sports, which if you hadn't guessed by now, Chris was completely useless at. The only thing good about this in his opinion was that the weekend was almost here.

He was instantly snapped of his thoughts when he heard a yell and the ball came his way. (_Sigh), somehow the ball always finds me in whatever game I play._

Finally after much passing, shooting and some slipping up, the game finally ended with the two teams tying, the scores are something you don't want to know. Everyone departed to the locker rooms to change and get ready for the next class. After queuing for ages to get into the girls locker room, Amy finally managed to get change so she could prepare for Geography.

Closing her locker door after collecting her books, she glanced her reflection in its shiny surface before going to her bag, but stopped, blinked and did a double take. What she saw staring back at her was a face but it sure as hell wasn't hers, it wasn't even human. It was covered in rough lizard scales, a long snout with a mouth that had just curled back in a smile. Two big yellow, black slit eyes regarded her with curiosity before it's head turned to look at the door to Amy's right. In the background, Amy vaguely heard one of her friends from outside call to her, she wanted to respond but didn't dare take her eyes off the reflection which seemed to be getting irritated. It's brows deepened into a frown and it appeared to snort in frustration before disappearing leaving Amy's reflection.

Standing there with her mouth agape, her voice decided to return to her, "For a minute there I thought I saw...", looking over her shoulder, she realized that no one else was in the locker room. Hearing her friend call again, she forcefully tore her eyes away from her locker and returned to her bag.

_Lack of sleep is getting to me, _and she finished packing her bag and walked out of the room, satisfied that the over load of homework they'd been getting was the reason. 

Exiting the locker room, Amy found her two best friends, who were engaged in conversation while patiently waiting for her. It was the shorter of the two that noticed her first. She had a similar pale complexion and dark brown hair tied up in a ponytail. The taller girl had light brown hair that went down to her shoulders with a slightly tan complexion.

The dark haired girl grinned, glad that the wait was over, "Amy, finally".

"Oh hush up, Lizzie", She replied with a hint of mock annoyance.

A broad smile creeping across her, the taller girl added "I heard you in there, Amy, you shouldn't talk to yourself, People will start to wonder"

"Sarah, I wasn't…" The blonde girl started only to realise she had no reply or way to defend herself. There was no way out of this. Luckily her friends didn't push the topic any further, discussing her sanity wasn't something she wanted to do today.

Together they made their way to the classroom where their afternoon lesson was about to take place. Because Sarah took drama and Lizzie and Amy took geography they had to part ways here.

"Well, seeya later", Sarah said giving her usual cheerful smile and dashing off down to the main assembly hall where drama took place.

Once inside they found the usual crowd of Chris and three other guys at the back of the room. Two of them in a heated discussion while the other two just shook their heads. One of them had long messy unkept brown hair with glasses covering his brown eyes. The other had a slightly darker complexion with short brown hair, which was faintly blonde on top. The guy standing next to Chris had dark brown hair, almost black, that was spiked up and lightly tanned freckly skin. Upon seeing the two girls in the doorway, he smiled and waved them over to where they were sitting.

"Hey Gaz, they still at it," asked Amy, already knowing the answer.

Gaz chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah, unfortunately". He waved to try and get Joe's attention but the messy haired boy just ignored him. "Nope, don't think we exist today".

Jon and Joe seemed to be in deep conversation over something obviously very technical. Chris and Gaz (Gareth) had long since given trying to understand what they were saying and had been talking about something else.

"I just got my new graphics card installed last night, it's a 6600GT," Jon said with his South African accent. He had been talking about this for over a week. This earned a groan from everyone in hearing distance.

"I still say the Alienware hardware are better," Joe was always known to argue just for the sake of it and obviously wasn't going to break with tradition today.

"And here we go" Gareth muttered as they broke out into another conversation of computers.

While this so called great debate was taking place, Lizzie, Amy and Chris stood there with dumbfounded looks on their faces, sure signs that they hadn't followed a word either of them had said.

After a minute or two, Amy leaned over and whispered with a slight laugh, "He's scaring me".

"What's he talking about again?" asked Chris, laughing at the mock glare of annoyance that Joe shot him.

"Not sure errrrr… something to do with computers I think" Lizzie concluded.

This was how it always was when it came to conversations in this small group. Normal was out of the question because everybody in it was either partly insane or completely insane. Luckily before they had to bare any more of this Mr Trevett, the geography teacher, came to the front of the class to start the lesson as usual. Everyone quickly took their seats and waited for him to begin.

Mr Trevett was one of everyone's favourite teachers at Kings School Seniors because he was very down to earth and laid back. You hardly ever heard him raise his voice unless you went out of your way to make trouble.

"Good afternoon, now before we start the lesson I just want to quickly talk to you about tomorrows fields trip"

"Sir, where are we going?" asked Lizzie, geography fieldtrips weren't exactly known as chances of a lifetime but it was a day away from school and that was still an improvement.

"Just some caves, in the northeast that are well over 1500 years old, ancient ruins are said to be hidden among these caves", but upon hearing multiple groans in the room, mostly coming from Sam and Luke's table, he frowned and said, "Oh come on, this will be good experience and will help you a lot in the exams ahead".

"Appealing to my conscience, that's my parents job, Sir" Chris said grinning.

"Well if you think you're prepared, then tell me about the recent earth tremors that have been happening near London, what causes them? Said Mr Trevett already with an air of triumph in his voice.

Suddenly finding the surface of his desk infinitely more interesting, Chris sat in silence for a moment before sighing in defeat, "Err…as you said".

"Exactly" he said with a broad smile. Another good thing about Mr Trevett was that if you didn't know something or he outsmarted you, he didn't go on about it.

At this point, Gareth leaned back to the row behind and whispered to Jon and Chris "Hmmm, maybe we can lose Amy in one of the tunnels". The three of them were in a way partners in crime when it came to making these off the cut comments about Amy. They just found it fun to watch her scowl and hear what she said she'd do to them if they didn't watch it.

"I heard that!" yelled the all too familiar blond from across the room who looked like she was ready to do some serious damage with the sharp pencil she was holding.

"Humph, honestly women, can't you take a joke" Jon said grinning back at her.

"Just watch it, okay," She said with some mock seriousness to sound frightening.

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_Nearly there._

IT coursework was one of the easiest things you'll ever have to do but also one of the most tedious as well. Similar thoughts were running through Jon's head as he attempted to polish off his spreadsheet presentation work in time to meet the deadline. While he was checking his written work to make he hadn't forgotten anything, a beeping noise sounded from the computer he was using. One thing everybody knew about Jon was that he got into a certain train of thought; if anything interrupted him there'd be hell to pay.

A window had suddenly appeared on the screen, the image inside swirled until it formed a dragonish face with mud coloured scales and two golden yellow eyes that almost looked miffed. It was as if the face was as irritated, as Jon was, that something had acted to annoy it as well. Jon however was tired and drowsy from the workload he had almost finished and didn't think twice about the strange face and the enigma of its appearance before clicking the X button on the window.

"Arg darn pop ups" he mumbled, on the surface irritated, but deep down a feeling had formed in the pit of his stomach that the image had been more than what it seemed. Realizing how much time he'd wasted thinking this, he began to immerse himself in his work again.

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"Great, almost ready to go", Mr Trevett muttered to himself as he loaded the bus ready for the day's exploration. Truth be told it was more of a mini bus than a big couch partly because it was only a small group that was going and partly because the school had little money. As he finished packing the stuff, Sarah ran up to him looking confused and miffed to say the least. "Sarah, what are you still doing here? You're bus left 10 minutes ago"

"Sir, someone must've given me the wrong time sheet"

_There's always one on every trip. All right, I suppose I don't have a choice._ He looked up and gave her a sympathetic look. "Okay, since there is no one in the school it's looks like you'll have to come with us"

Sarah nodded, she liked drama a lot and missing the bus that was supposed to go to the "The Globe" theatre was a huge disappointment. Still, she was determined not to get too upset about, but now she was going to have to spend the afternoon traipsing through muddy fields and digging up molehills. At least, that was the rumour that had been spread about Geography fieldtrips.

Just then, the rest of her friends showed up, not looking any happier about the days activities.

"Hey, what's going on?" Joe asked, but stopped short when he saw Sarah's depressed look.

"Sarah, is something wrong?" Amy asked in a concerned voice.

"Sarah took the wrong time sheet I'm afraid, she'll be coming with us" Mr Trevett as he explained the situation. He felt sorry for Sarah but there was no way he could call the drama bus back, so she'd just have to make the best of it. Beside he knew she had friends in this group, smiling he said, "I'm sure Lizzie and Amy will look after you".

The excited YAY! that the two girls emitted was enough to make everybody else put their hands on their ears in alarm. Teenage girls, always known for getting over excited especially when all three had drank coffee that morning.

"Hyper girls, quick alert the authorities!" Chris joked causing the other guys to smirk.

_Mr Trevett has no idea what he has unleashed, _Jon thought as he got on the bus with the others, which promptly departed.

The journey there was just like any other. Lizzie, Amy and Sarah having cheered up were chatting happily in the back seats. Jon played on his PDA, but joined Gareth and Joe whenever the conversation turned to Battlefield 2. Chris just stared out the window watching the scenery fly by while his friend James tried to start a conversation. Sam, Luke and their little gang of about 4 others sat in the back talking about last weekend's football game.

As the landscape rushed past, Chris paid it little attention, too lost in his own thoughts. Suddenly something caught his eye; he put his face closer to the window get a better look. Whatever it was, it wasn't part of the scenery, more like a reflection in the window. However, looking behind him, he saw that there was nothing that even remotely looked like it. It had a face that reminded Chris of some of the dragons, he'd read about or seen pictures of in books. Dark brown scales that had a coppery tint to them, a crown of horns perturbing around his head, some worn and broken in places. There was almost an amused look in its big yellow eyes yet one of frustration as well.

"What the…"

Just then the bus drove through a tunnel making it too dark to see anything, once the tunnel was behind them, Chris returned his gaze to the window but found that face was gone. Now only his own reflection stared back at him. Chris stared shocked, what was that and where did it go? He wasn't even sure whether he had imagined it or not but he kept his eyes tuned to the window for the rest of the trip. In fact, he was so busy; he didn't feel the mini-bus stop and the rest of class start to file out.

"Chris, you coming?" Chris mentally shook himself out of his daze and turned to see Gaz calling out to him from the front of the bus. He decided he wouldn't say anything; there were people in school who thought he was crazy already.

"Yeah, sorry" Gaz raised his eyebrows, something was going on, Chris had a spooked look and his face had paled a bit. Chris got off the bus with barely a word, he obviously didn't have anything to say about it so Gaz decided to let it drop.

As the group entered one of the many caves that were dotted around the area, they saw that the others faced the same direction. Inside, the walls were lined with deep crevices while stalactites hung from the ceiling. They had been told that these caves were a network of tunnels that were almost impossible to navigate without a map or guide; the tunnels that they were using were lit.

"Okay, you lot, the next one who answers this question right wins a Mars bar", Mr Trevett said with the usual twinkle in his eye.

"Ha, he still haven't given me the last one I earned" Jon whispered to Gaz.

"When does he ever, Jon?"

It took a while but Mr Trevett finished his questions and said they could move on to the fieldwork. They eventually came to a fork in the tunnel that split three ways. This was where they were divided into three groups in order to explore each passageway and gather more data. Mr Trevett was quite a fair teacher and often split the groups by friendship circles. The first group was Lizzie, Amy, Jon, Gaz, Sarah and Chris, Joe however ended with Sam and his friends and James got in the third group. Once the groups had been assigned the booklets they had to fill in, Mr Trevett gave them the final briefing.

"Now remember, each group is to keep to the marked lit tunnels, take only one backpack between you and where the lights in the tunnels end as shown on map, turn around and come straight back" Mr Trevett said and with that he dismissed them, sending each group down a different tunnel.

The group of six set off after Mr Trevett sent them down the pathway to the left. They had put all necessary equipment in one backpack that Jon had been elected to carry. The tunnel was quite narrow so they had to travel in twos and it seemed the further they went, the colder it got.

"We are heading the right way aren't we?" asked Sarah after a time. Caves, she definitely hadn't been expecting caves. She wasn't wearing the right shoes for this.

Amy, on the other hand, was silently pondering if she brought enough food with her, "You're asking me," she said simply.

"Lets just get this over with so we can get out of here," murmured Lizzie, this territory came with a peculiar feeling.

"It doesn't matter, I'm going to fail this class no matter we do" Gaz said glumly.

"We've been through this Gaz, you're not going to fail" insisted Chris, looking at everyone in the group for support, "Feel free to chip in anytime guys".

Gaz had said this time and time again and the others weren't any closer to convincing him otherwise.

"But you guys are all so much smarter than me" he began again.

"But…oh I give up" Chris pouted before folding his arms.

"And anywa-"

At that moment, Sarah's foot slipped on the rocky uneven tunnel floor and she only just managed to put her hands out in time to break the fall preventing a very ungraceful dive into the puddle in front of her. Uttering a small curse, she began to heave herself up again. It was then that she noticed that the puddle she'd almost fallen in was pulsing strangely. Cautiously she leaned over to take a closer look and what she made her stop dead in her tracks. Two golden orbs that shone like lanterns had appear in the puddles murky water. Next a face began materialize around it forming a snout, scales and horns. The orbs, which Sarah now realized were eyes stared intently at her, as if waiting for something. It opened its mouth a bit like it wanted to say something, showing row upon row of sharp pointed teeth that could slice through anything.

She couldn't stop the squeal of surprise that escaped her mouth, still on all fours; she slowly backed from the sight before her. She wondered if she was going mad or the others were seeing this as well.

"What are you staring at, is something wrong?" Lifting her head at the voice, she saw Lizzie holding her hold and her face showing concern. Her smile returning, Sarah gratefully accepted it letting Lizzie pull her back on to her feet.

"No Nothing, lets just keep going," Sarah hoped that they would forget that little embarrassing scene she had just caused. Fortunately, most of them seemed accept this; either nodding, shaking their heads or giving a small laugh. _How could no one else have seen that? This is just crazy. _

Lizzie and Amy exchanged glances and then gave her an all-knowing look; they knew something had upset her. Lizzie spoke at last "OK, if you're sure you're all right". Composing herself, Sarah managed a smile.

"I am," She said more confidently than she was feeling at that moment and strode past them.

They continued on, Sarah trying to banish the image of the face from her mind. The way it had also smiled at her was a bit of a frightening thought. Now that she thought about it, it vaguely looked like some of the dragon drawings; she'd seen Chris and Amy do in Art. Mythical creatures fascinated them, but it couldn't have been one of those, could it? She was so rapped up in the mystery that she didn't notice Gaz studying the expressions that were playing about her face.

_What was going on?_ He thought. She'd had that same far away look that Chris had back on the bus. _Now that I think about it, Amy and Jon looked like something was bothering them earlier, but what is the connection? _Realizing he had fallen behind the rest of the group, he jogged to catch up, this place had an eerie feeling to it.

They continued on still with little clue of where they were going. Despite being lit, every tunnel looked the same. Sarah, Amy, Chris and Jon at the front, Chris holding the first torch, and Lizzie and Gaz at the back with Gaz holding the second. After another hour of noting down the variety of different rock types and evidence of erosion in the caves, the group eventually came to where the trail of cave lights stopped where they were supposed to stop their investigation.

"Errr, finished," stated Amy as she packed away her pen and ran to join Jon, Sarah and Chris who had decided to see what was just beyond the lit part of the tunnel before turning back. Gaz and Lizzie lingered behind to finish some notes on the booklet; this was all of their grades after all.

Gaz shone his torch up to the cave above where they currently walking and saw that the ceiling was made up of wedged together; "I'd hate for that to fall on top of me" he called to them.

Jon let out a sigh and shook his head, "Gaz, relax, it is perfectly sa-".

All of a sudden from out of nowhere a rumbling started. The sound resonating throughout the tunnel walls making them vibrate. Before long the ground began to shake, growing stronger every second, then the ground gave such a violent shudder that Lizzie and Gaz were knocked backwards off their feet. Chris, Sarah, Amy and Jon weren't fairing any better but held on to the sides of tunnel to avoid having their being removed from underneath them.

Looking down the passageway they watched as the rocks above shifted nervously, threatening to give way. The tunnel was going to collapse on them. In next few seconds they were going to be flattened by those boulder-sized rocks. Searching in desperation, Amy suddenly became aware of a rock crevice a few feet ahead to the right. A large rock landed to Jon's left, barely missing him, braking Amy from her train of thought. There was no time to tell if it was big enough for all four of them to squeeze into. Calling out to Chris, Jon and Sarah, she couldn't be heard over the loud rumbling and the constant quaking that was throwing them off balance. As another rock came down, Amy finally indicated the crevice and they shoved each other into it just before the rocks that made up the roof of the tunnel finally gave way.

After about two minutes of keeping their heads down, the rumbling subsided and the quaking stopped.

Pushing themselves out carefully from the crevice that had saved the four of them from being crushed. Heaving several rocks out of the way they discovered that the tunnel, that lead back outside, had been completely blocked off by the rock fall, as had the unlit passageway at the other end. They were boxed in. Suddenly they started hearing muffled shouts coming from the pile of rocks that barred their way. It was only after much ear straining that what was being said could be heard.

"Amy? Jon? Sarah? Chris? Anyone?"

"Gaz?" shouted Jon inquiringly, but so much had fallen across the tunnel that he had to shout two or three times to make Gaz hear him.

On the other side, Gaz let out a relieved sigh along with a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. No one was hurt but where had that tremor come from? Neither he nor Lizzie were hurt other than having scraped their legs in getting out of the way of the cave in. "You guys okay?"

"Well, I didn't hear anyone say go into the light so I guess I'm fine," Chris muttered curtly, dusting himself off.

Amy finally opened her eyes and got her wits about her, "Good grief, how are we still alive?" She exclaimed at last.

"Lucky you spotted this" said Sarah referring to the crevice in the passageway. Jon ignored this and continued trying to get his message across.

"Only just, everyone on your side alright"

"We got a few cuts and scraps, but otherwise fine" Gaz responded.

"Gaz listen, we're trapped, the other passageway's blocked off too, you have to get help"

"Right hang on, I'll try to be back as soon as possible" called Gaz, his footsteps getter fainter and fainter until the sound disappeared.

Then all was silent again apart from the sound of dripping water emanating from somewhere in the cavern, after a moment Sarah spoke up in a worried tone, "How long do you think he'll be".

"As soon as possible which means around five hours", Amy said before sighing. Deciding to try and lighten the mood, she perched herself on a discarded rock and smiled, "So Sarah, Truth or Dare?"

Sarah rolled her eyes telling Amy that she was not in a mood to play games. Chris cracked a smile at the remark, which was quick to fade. Jon meanwhile had gone over to inspect the rock pileup that was blocking their way backwards.

Finally after considering something, he spoke up "Hey, maybe if the four of us could shift some of these rocks" this was meet with blank stares and grimaces from Sarah, Amy and Chris. They obviously didn't think much of the idea.

"I doubt it, Jon, moving any rocks at the bottom could cause the whole thing to collapse on us," said Chris in a panicked voice. He may have wanted to be outside in the fresh air instead of in this damp cave but preferred that to being buried under 200 tons of rock.

"Yeah, we should just wait for Gaz" Sarah added.

Sighing, Jon moved away from the pileup and came to where the rest of them were perched on discarded boulders. The four of them sat in silence lost in their own thoughts for what seemed like an hour before Jon got up again. Turning his attention to the back of the cavern, opposite their hiding spot, Jon could just make out what looked like a connecting tunnel. How had they missed that before?

_Must have been hidden by the shadows_, he mused in thought. The others if possible were looking even more depressed and it was beginning to get colder as the temperature dropped. They had to take a chance.

"All right, we're just going to have to follow this tunnel and hope it leads to a way out. This path isn't marked so who knows where we'll end up", he said trying to make it sound as if the last part wasn't a big deal.

Amy took a look down the pitch-black pathway. Taking the torch from Chris, she flashed it down the tunnel unsure of which course of action to take. "I don't know, if the battery on the torch runs out before we find an exit, we'll be stumbling around aimlessly in the dark".

It was then that another tremor started, the source of it seemed far off and only lasted a few seconds but it was enough to make the rock above them shift and a pile of dust to rain down on them. Turning back towards the dark tunnel, Amy saw that Jon, Chris and Sarah were already making their way down into its inky blackness. As they looked back to see if she was following, Amy shot them a questioning look.

"It's better that waiting for those rocks to come down on us" Chris responded. He and Sarah had obviously changed theirs minds. Then he added "And besides, I don't think Mr Trevett packed a digger or drill into the back of the mini-bus". Not being one to be left behind, Amy ran to catch up to them, shining the torch forward to light their way.

_And a situation gets out of hand once again, _Amy mused silently as they trudged onwards through the unlit tunnel.

They walked on down the darkened pathway keeping close to the light of the torch. Aside from Sarah's occasional complaint of the freezing cold, they didn't talk instead preferring to concentrate on the way ahead and for any sign of light. After about half an hour, the passageway began to widen leading them out into a large room-sized cavern. Water ran down its rough and uneven walls making it damp and cold. Flashing the torch around the cave to try and find a connecting tunnel but only to their disappointment discovered three solid rock walls staring back at them. There was nowhere else to go but back.

"Guess that's that then" Amy said simply. There was nothing else to say, there was no way forward. They had to go back and wait for Gaz.

Slowly turning back up the tunnel, a faint rumbling sound came to Sarah that sounded like someone far off was saying something.

"Hey, did you just hear that?" Sarah asked uncertainly, hoping it wasn't another earth tremor. The four of them stood still for a moment and listened, unsure of what they were supposed to be hearing. Then all of a sudden the voice spoke up again. The sound came again and this time the words were audible.

Save the last...

Looking over at the Amy, Chris and Jon, she could tell from their looks of surprise and shock that she definitely hadn't imagined it.

"What the heck is that?" exclaimed Chris just as the voice resounded this time making them all jump.

"Shh…listen, it's getting louder," whispered Jon. This malevolent voice was causing a sense of fear to creep into all of them and he wondered whether or not they should keep moving forward. Looking around, he saw that there was nowhere for any of them to hide if something did come out of the tunnel. With a nod from the others to keep moving, they had taken not more than 5 steps each when they heard it again.

Save the last...

This time the voice had spoken much louder causing each of them to freeze in their tracks. Standing perfectly still, not knowing what to expect next.

Amy found herself trying as hard as she could to fight the panic growing inside her, but didn't say anything. What could this voice possibly want with them and where was it coming from. It seemed to be emanating from every direction in the tunnel. Turning to Sarah, she saw that her friend was desperately trying to hide her fear as well, only doing a much better job of it.

"Okay, maybe, we should get outta here," said Chris just as the voice sounded again louder this time. He didn't to go on but at the same time didn't want to be left behind.

Save the Last...

They were now back to back, trying to as far away from the voice as they could. Fear evident on all their faces now, though what happened in the next few seconds transpired quicker than like lightning.

YOU MUST SAVE THE LAST!

Suddenly a huge earth tremor started up causing the lose rocks in the cavern to shift uneasily. The four of them braced themselves but to their surprise a gust of wind swept in instead. A dazzling light came from who knows where enveloping everything in its wake.

"WHATS HAPPENING!" Sarah yelled but even at the top of her voice with the force of the wind and the blinding light, it was impossible for anyone to hear her. The brightness of the light intensified causing the cave to almost disappear. They looked down but couldn't tell if the cave floor was there or not. Next a sinking came over them like the ground had given way and they were falling into oblivion. Any screams they might have made were cut off as they each plunged into the darkness of unconsciousness.

The tremor subsided and the light vanished as if it had never been there in the first place. Needless to say there was no trance that four teenagers had been standing there just seconds ago. As silence once again fell upon the cave, the wind once again rushed through carrying a rich voice that spoke with a slight Scottish accent.

"Now it begins"

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Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took so long, I meant to put it up with the prologue but there's a problem with the story editor and I couldn't put a ruler in places scene changed. You've probably guessed by now that I've gotton fed up with not getting a reply at support and decided to post regardless.

This is my Dragon Heart fanfic so please bear with me when it comes to spelling and grammar. This story got off to a bit of a rocky start if you'll forgive the bad pun. I know this chapter was a bit boring and I will try to update, but it's my A2 year at college so it may take time. Also I suffer a lot from writer's block.

I'm not terribly happy with this chapter so it will probably be changed at some point, sooner or later.

Any input given would be helpful, Thanks for reading.


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